NC hurricanes spread death, destruction from coast to mountains

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Raleigh, N.C. — Destructive hurricanes are infamous for tearing up the North Carolina coast, but even smaller, less powerful storms are capable of bringing death, flooding and damage far inland.

Residents of central and eastern North Carolina have learned that just from storms over the past dozen years.

Most recently, in 2011, Hurricane Irene brushed the coast, dumping heavy rains and causing significant sound-side flooding. The Category 1 storm also sliced N.C. Highway 12 on the Outer Banks into several pieces.

Overall, Irene caused more than $1.2 billion in damage to more than one-third of the state's 100 counties.

Twelve years earlier, Dennis was just a tropical storm when it landed north of Cape Lookout on Sept. 5, 1999, but it hung together and took an erratic, approximately 265-mile track across eastern North Carolina, the Triangle and the Triad before going north into Virginia.

Dennis dropped between 3 and 10 inches of rain, breaking a prolonged dry spell. That saturated the ground and filled rivers – doing the dirty work for Hurricane Floyd, which came ashore 10 days later, dropped rain for 60 hours and became the state's most destructive storm.

Tropical Storm Alberto arrived near Laurinburg on June 14, 2006, after making landfall in Florida and trekking across Georgia and South Carolina. It still managed to be a killer. An 8-year-old Franklin County boy chased a ball into a flooded drainage system and drowned.

Tropical Storm Hanna left flooding as its legacy. The storm made landfall at Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Sept. 6, 2008, then moved across North Carolina, hooking up with the Interstate 95 corridor near Wilson.

Hanna forced people to evacuate from their homes as far inland as the Triangle. Residents of southeast Raleigh had to leave their homes along Rose Lane.

In the Moore County town of Vass, floodwaters washed out a 10-foot-wide chunk of Autumn Drive, which was the only road in and out of the Riverbend neighborhood.

Inland flooding storms

Some of the deadliest storms to ever strike North Carolina – including the top two killers – took lives far away from the coast.

Hurricane Floyd killed 52 people in North Carolina, according to the count by the Office of the State Chief Medical Examiner. Many victims died in their cars, trying to navigate flooded roads, while others perished in their homes, caught off guard by the flooding.

Floyd was North Carolina's biggest killer of the 20th century but not of all time.

That dubious honor belongs to the Hurricane of September 1883. This unnamed storm killed 53 people in North Carolina and 156 people across the United States.

The storm came ashore near Sunset Beach, along the South Carolina border, and trekked nearly straight north across the state. It passed through Clinton in Sampson County and Spring Hope in Nash County.

Deadliest N.C. hurricanes

Along with death, hurricanes have brought destruction far away from the Atlantic coast – even into the western mountains.

Of the five most destructive hurricanes in North Carolina history, Floyd and Donna followed a path along the coast or in the coastal plain. Floyd, however, spread more than $7 billion worth of damage throughout eastern North Carolina, inundating towns as far west as Rocky Mount.

Hurricane Fran, which ranks as the state's second-most destructive hurricane, came ashore near Bald Head Island on Sept. 6, 1996, and continued northwest across the state, coming straight through the Triangle.

Fran earned the nickname "Paul Bunyan of North Carolina," felling thousands of trees with its strong winds. Damage was so widespread that a state of emergency was declared in all 100 counties of North Carolina – the first time in state history.

Hurricane Hazel came ashore with freakish ferocity right at the South Carolina border in October 1954 and kept going nearly straight north, through Smithfield, Zebulon and Louisburg.

As far inland as Goldsboro and Kinston, Hazel whipped up 120 mph winds. The storm still had hurricane-strength winds when it roared through Raleigh.

Hazel was nicknamed "the Bulldozer" and ranks as the state's third-most destructive storm.

No. 5 on that list, Hurricane Hugo didn't come anywhere near the coast in September 1989. Instead, Hugo whalloped Charlotte, then swung west through the mountains, passing through Boone.

Hugo struck Charlotte with 85 mph winds and toppled an estimated 100,000 trees, including many stately oaks more than 70 years old. It dumped 7 inches of rain on Boone.

djofraleighJul 29, 2011

You know, if you don't keep up with the news, come reading the headlines, one could think it just happened!

I kept my station open one Christmas. A working guy pulled in with his truck, came in, said, "what's going on today? No traffic." I said, "It's Christmas Day"

He didn't realize it was Christmas. He did some silent movie poses, got a loaf of bread, candy and chips, beer and went back to his motel room.

Sometimes work takes over our lives when our lives have bummed out. When jobs bum out, let our family and friends take over, I say. Don't sit around saying THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN PAY DAY.

djofraleighJul 29, 2011

I have a feeling we will get slammed in Late Sept with a Cat 4. -- comment

I once had a feeling, 1000s of them, that didn't pan out.

wdprice3Jul 29, 2011

"What gets me nervous is it is hotter this year then it was in 99 when all the storms came through. If anyone remembers we had EXTENDED waves of heat, then the storms. I have a feeling we will get slammed in Late Sept with a Cat 4."

What do temperatures in the middle of NC have to do with hurricanes forming in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?

djofraleighJul 29, 2011

Must be a slow news day. -- comment

this was a great piece...loved reading it. Another article would be nice saying how much NC needs the rain from storms....hurricanes are just bigger storms.

djofraleighJul 29, 2011

If this is true about damage from the coast to the mountains, then why does only the coast have the increased homeowners insurance cost? -- comment

my brother's place on Topsail gets damaged after many storms, not just hurricanes....combo of wind, rain, and no wind breaks as the storm come from the sea and sound. I'd guess that is why, and his place being 3 feet above high tide...and the highest place on that part of the island.

gotitmadecijJul 29, 2011

If this is true about damage from the coast to the mountains, then why does only the coast have the increased homeowners insurance cost?